Finding Happiness and Health in Moments of Connection

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Overview

We all know love matters, but in this groundbreaking book positive emotions expert Barbara Fredrickson shows us how much. Even more than happiness and optimism, love holds the key to improving our mental and physical health as well as lengthening our lives.

Using research from her own lab, Fredrickson redefines love not as a stable behemoth, but as micro-moments of connection between people—even strangers. She demonstrates that our capacity for experiencing love can be measured and strengthened in ways that improve our health and longevity. Finally, she introduces us to informal and formal practices to unlock love in our lives, generate compassion, and even self-soothe.

Rare in its scope and ambitious in its message, Love 2.0 will reinvent how you look at and experience our most powerful emotion.

Praise

“Read this book and you’ll never think about love in the same way again!”—Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., author of The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness

“A radically new conception of love.”—The Atlantic

“Barbara Frederickson drives home the value of being warmhearted, making the scientific case that this variety of positivity benefits our health and our connections, as well as opening our live to new possibilities. Love 2.0 is a user-friendly manual for opening our hearts.”—Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence

“Barbara Fredrickson offers up nothing short of a revolution in Love 2.0….This line of work may end up changing both what we mean by love and what we take as evidence for love and its effects.”—Los Angeles Review of Books

“No current book can hold a candle to Fredrickson’s Love 2.0 for its stunning combination of science, wisdom and poetry. I am tempted to say that there has not been a better book on love since the New Testament.”—George Vaillant, M.D., author of Spiritual Evolution and Triumphs of Experience

“Fredrickson is disassembling centuries of other notions of what love is, how to receive it, how to give it, and why it is so important in distinguishing humans from other mammals on earth.”—National Post

“A remarkable book on the supreme emotion called love, this beautiful volume captures the essence of love, in life, in science, between us, within us. Love has never been so well understood, so deeply expressed, as in the work of scientist Barbara Fredrickson.”—Joan Halifax, author of Being with Dying

“In this book, Barbara Fredrickson conveys a powerful new view of what we all want most deeply–love. Using rigorous science, practical exercises, and heartful daily life examples, Barbara shows us how to strengthen our capacity to more truly connect to ourselves and others. Love 2.0 moves the entire field of understanding and accessing love forward.”—Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

“I’m in love with Love 2.0.”—Parents

“Lest this sound too “new age” to you, be prepared to have all of these exercises backed up by scientific evidence of their effectiveness. Fredrickson is, above all, a researcher. She assures her readers that what she is suggesting is “evidence-based” and is meant to increase loving feelings from the inside out, not to make people put on fake smiles or pretend to feel something they don’t. It’s this promise—and the science behind it—that makes Love 2.0 rise above other self help books.”—Greater Good

‘This book may change your life. Really. Give Love 2.0 a chance.”—New Scientist

“What a wonderful book! Not only has Barbara Fredrickson dared to say that love is the most supreme among all emotions, but she offers a wealth of scientific evidence and inspiring stories demonstrating that affective resonance is a key factor for our happiness and that of others. This is a must-read for all those interested in psychology, health, longevity…and above all a meaningful life.”—Matthieu Ricard, author of Happiness and Why Meditate?

“Fredrickson shows us many more avenues of affection than just finding our one true love.”—Mindful Magazine

“Barbara Fredrickson puts a new twist on love, illuminating how we can transform our lives by extending love to all of humanity – including ourselves. Based on solid research yet written in an easy-to-read manner, this book is full of practical exercises that can help the reader learn how to love more fully.”—Kristin Neff, Ph.D., author of Self-Compassion

“At last we can discuss the science of love. We can discuss the hormones involved, the way positive emotions can be strengthened, the relation between self-love and loving others. In this highly readable book, Barbara Frederickson offers expert guidance in this emerging field.”—Frans de Waal, Ph.D., author of The Age of Empathy

“Love 2.0 wakes us up to new possibilities from everyday connections. Barbara Fredrickson transforms how we view love….She expands possibilities of how to put more love moments in our lives, helping each of us to unlock resources that generate health, well-being and happiness for ourselves and for others.”—Jane Dutton, Ph.D., author of Energize your Workplace